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Kindle Nation Daily Free & Bargain Book Alert for Monday, March 15, 2010: Male Call – Hot Zone Book 1, by Denise A. Agnew, and Millions More!

“Warning: Contains explicit sex, some graphic language, and mild violence.”

It’s no surprise that — in addition to all the other wonderful benefits of the Kindle — the ereader is bringing plenty of attention the Kindle Books>Fiction>Erotica category in the Kindle Store. This latest free title is currently #347 overall in the Kindle Store, but it will probably make the top 10 before the sun sets tonight. Two other titles, Carolyn Faulkner’s Kept and our own Rena Diane Walmsley’s literary erotica novel Girl on Fire, have recently cracked the top 100 in the Kindle Store with prices under $3.

For a while there we were concerned that religious titles were dominating the free book listings in the Kindle Store. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But apparently it’s no longer the case!

Here’s an excerpt from last week’s new release on the release of Girl on Fire:

Here She Is, a Miss America Contestant 
With a Sexy Kindle Bestseller That May Make You Blush! 

You may think that the latest erotic thriller to climb the bestseller list in Amazon’s Kindle ebook store has an unlikely author.

Girl on Fire, a cautionary, sexually explicit coming-of-age tale, was written right here in Massachusetts by Rena Diane Walmsley, who represented the state in the Miss America beauty pageant when she was 19.

“It would have made me blush in my contestant days, and I’m sure I would not have been alone,” says Walmsley today of her first novel. “The truth is that this novel might even have gotten me thrown out of the pageant, but more and more women are writing fiction that you might call ‘liberated,’ and the Kindle is the perfect place for an emerging novelist to break out whether she is writing in the erotica category or in some other genre.”

Indeed, the Kindle ebook reader is quickly becoming the digital equivalent of the “brown paper bag” for readers who prefer to play their reading choices close to the vest. With nearly half a million ebooks available in the Kindle Store, there are currently about 50 “erotica” titles among the top 2,000 Kindle bestsellers.

And Walmsley’s Girl on Fire is currently #3 on the Kindle’s “erotica” bestseller list, out of 11,987 titles in the category, as well as #6 on the “romantic suspense” list. Girl on Fire was released in the Kindle Store March 5, and will make its paperback debut with worldwide distribution, including Amazon.com, on March 26.

If Walmsley’s novel takes off, she would not be the first Miss America contestant from Massachusetts to make it as a novelist. Lisa Kleypas, who was Miss Massachusetts in 1985, has over two dozen novels in the Kindle Store.

Walmsley’s publisher for Girl on Fire, tiny Arlington-based Harvard Perspectives Press, provides this description for the novel in the copy that appears on the back cover of the forthcoming paperback:

Looking for love in all the right places? Not Alicia Wentworth, the enchantingly frisky teenaged heiress at the heart of Rena Diane Walmsley’s debut memoir-as-novel. Alicia escapes from her privileged, sheltered life at an elite Concord, Massachusetts boarding school and pulls a “visiting room switch” to break in to a nearby state prison so she can rendezvous with Teddy Hawk, an exquisitely chiseled 21-year-old Native American convict for whom she has fallen hard while volunteering in a creative writing class for inmates. But Alicia is left alone and vulnerable when Teddy is hauled off to solitary, and she must reach deep within herself to concoct a gritty and initially degrading scheme to blackmail the prison system into freeing them both.

This deliciously literate debut is framed by Alicia’s present-day perspective as “a respectable thirty-something Unitarian minister” in a suburb west of Boston: while she is cognizant of the scars she wears from her early experiences, she is also engaged by a sense of something sacred therein that informs her daily life years later.

Not all coming-of-age novels are alike, and not every thirty-something narrator is able to cast an unflinching eye on the choices she made and the chances she took at the cusp of adulthood. But Walmsley’s unique novel-as-memoir never blinks, and her stunning sexual description breaks new narrative ground on age-old but ever-engaging terrain. Women and men alike will be enchanted and enriched by their journeys through her ultimately cautionary web of words.

-30-

And, for the rest of the freebies in the Kindle Store, is a reprise of yesterday’s free book alert:

  • Originally posted March 15, 2010 – © Kindle Nation Daily 2010 
  • “Free” in the Kindle Store refers, for now, to the price for download to US-based Kindles. Amazon adds various charges for Kindles based beyond US borders. However, you can scroll down to Free Book Collections for over 1.8 million titles that can be downloaded free from the internet to Kindles anywhere in the world (use USB connection to avoid wireless charges.)

Product Details
from Touchstone Pictures (Kindle Edition – Mar. 15, 2010)Kindle Book
Available for Pre-order. This item will be released on Mar. 15, 2010.

Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows, Book 1)


In addition to the several dozen free promotion books listed below, Amazon has just created a new direct gateway to over 2 million other free books that you can download easily to your Kindle. Here’s what you’ll find there:

With over 420,000 titles, the Kindle Store contains the largest selection of the books people want to read including New York Times® Best Sellers and most new releases at $9.99, unless otherwise marked. And Amazon provides thousands of the most popular classics for free including titles like The Adventures of Sherlock HolmesPride and Prejudice, and Treasure Island with more coming.
But of course, the Internet is huge and there are lots of older, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books online. We wanted to make it easier to find these collections, which today represent nearly 2 million titles. See the sites and instructions below to download free classic and other out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books and transfer via USB to your Kindle device or read on Kindle for PC.
Note that these large collections of older free books are typically created from scanned copies of physical books and can have variable quality.
Amazon Kindle Store – Thousands of the most popular classics for free
The Amazon Kindle Store lets you choose from thousands of popular classics all available for free wireless delivery in under 60 seconds with Whispernet.
  1. Visit Kindle Popular Classics
  2. Search or browse for a title just like a normal Kindle book.
Internet Archive – Over 1.8 million free titles
Internet Archive is a non-profit dedicated to offering permanent access to historical collections that exist in digital format. Provides over 1.8 million free books to read, download, and enjoy.
  1. Visit archive.org 
  2. Search for a title or browse one of the sub-collections like ‘American Libraries’
  3. When viewing a title, click the link on the left labeled “Kindle (beta)” to download the file to your computer
  4. Attach your Kindle to your computer using your USB cable and drag the file to the “Documents” folder on your Kindle. You can also e-mail the file to your Kindle using Whispernet for wireless delivery (charges apply).
  5. Open the book from your Kindle’s home screen and enjoy.
Project Gutenberg – Over 30,000 free titles
Project Gutenberg, one of the original sources of free electronic books, is dedicated to the creation and distribution of eBooks.
  1. Visit gutenberg.org 
  2. Search for a title or browse the ‘Book shelves by topic’
  3. When viewing a title, scroll down to the ‘Download this ebook for free’ section and click the download link for ‘Mobipocket’ or ‘Mobipocket with images’ format.
  4. Attach your Kindle to your computer using your USB cable and drag the file to the “Documents” folder on your Kindle. You can also e-mail the file to your Kindle using Whispernet for wireless delivery (charges apply).
  5. Open the book from your Kindle’s home screen and enjoy.
Have you seen another great collection of free Kindle books on the web? Drop us a line.

Kindle Store Bargains **Over** $9.99? What’s Up with That?!

If you’ve gotten into the habit of avoiding all Kindle titles that are priced above $9.99, you may be missing out on some bargains. Really, I’m serious….


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Sookie Stackhouse 8-copy Boxed Set by Charlaine Harris (Kindle Edition – Sept. 29, 2009) – Kindle Book
Buy$31.96
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The Twilight Saga Collection by Stephenie Meyer (Kindle Edition – Oct. 27, 2009) – Kindle Book
Buy$33.20
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The Lord of the Rings (Trilogy) by J.R.R. Tolkien (Kindle Edition – Apr. 19, 2009) – Kindle Book
Buy$12.24
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One-Click Buy: March 2010 Harlequin Presents by Trish Morey (Kindle Edition – Mar. 1, 2010) – Kindle Book
Buy$16.50
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One-Click Buy: March 2010 Silhouette Desire by Jules Bennett (Kindle Edition – Mar. 1, 2010) – Kindle Book
Buy$11.99
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One-Click Buy: March 2010 Harlequin Blaze by Bonnie Edwards (Kindle Edition – Mar. 1, 2010) – Kindle Book
Buy$11.99
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One-Click Buy: February 2010 Harlequin Presents by Caitlin Crews (Kindle Edition – Feb. 1, 2010) – Kindle Book
Buy$18.50
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One-Click Buy: February 2010 Harlequin Blaze by Lori Borrill (Kindle Edition – Feb. 1, 2010) – Kindle Book
Buy$11.99
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Product Details
One-Click Buy: February 2010 Silhouette Desire by Rachel Bailey (Kindle Edition – Feb. 1, 2010) – Kindle Book
Buy$11.99
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Some Indications of Rising Kindle Store Prices and Tentative Willingness Among Kindle Owners to Pay More Than $9.99 for New Releases

A little over two weeks ago, on February 25, I shared a post here with a breakdown of Kindle Store books by price range. The breakdown of the 447,000 titles in the Kindle Store at the time was as follows, as of February 25, 2010:

  • 19,795 Kindle Books Priced “Free” (4.42%) 
  • 3,023 Titles Priced from a Penny to 98 Cents (0.67%) 
  • 36,370 Kindle Books Priced at 99 Cents (8.12%) 
  • 62,275 Kindle Books Priced from $1 to $2.99 (13.9%) 
  • 87,722 Kindle Books Priced from $3 to $4.99 (19.58%) 
  • 81,230 Titles Priced from $5 to $9.98 (18.13%) 
  • 55,269 Titles Priced at $9.99 (12.34%) 
  • 5,139 Titles Priced from $10 to $12.99 (1.15%) 
  • 9,331 Titles Priced from $13 to $14.99 (2.08%) 
  • 87,771 Titles Priced at $15 and Up (19.59%)

Since then, as we approach the advent of the so-called agency model by which some of the major publishers intend to mandate (rather than “suggest”) retail ebook prices to Amazon and other ebook retailers, we are beginning to see some small trends of change. There have been no real signs of change under the $9.99 price point, other than a decrease in the number of titles priced between a penny and 98 cents, which is probably a result of Amazon exercising some quality control over pubic domain titles and pushing small publishers toward the Kindle Digital Text Platform and away from MobiPocket as a publishing platform. Here’s the first part of the breakdown of the 463,000 ebooks in the Kindle Store as of today, March 10, 2010:

But the percentage of books listed at $9.99 has slipped from 12.34% to 11.59%, and the percentage of books listed between $10 and $14.99 has increased from 3.23% to 4.21%. Nothing huge, but probably a significant trend in this balance of the breakdown as of today, March 10, 2010:

There may also be the beginning of a trend if change in the composition of the Kindle Store top 100 list. As of today, we see the following breakdown of the top 100 bestselling ebooks in the Kindle Store:
  • 50 priced at $0.00 
  • 1 priced from $0.01 to $0.98
  • 0 priced at $0.99
  • 1 priced from $1 to $2.99
  • 10 priced from $3 to $4.99
  • 15 priced from $5 to $9.98
  • 18 priced at $9.99
  • 2 priced from $10 to $12.99
  • 2 priced from $13 to $14.99
  • 1 priced at $15 and up
Although the number of free titles in the top 100 has declined from late December and early January, this seems less a matter of changed behavior than the clearly observable pattern that shows a higher preponderance of free books among the bestsellers in periods immediately following a high-volume shipping period for new Kindles, as we witnessed with the 2009 holiday season.
The more significant pattern may be the fact that there are 5 titles priced between $12.61 and $15.37 in the top 100. Although we have reported in the past on our survey results that show strong resistance among Kindle owners to paying more than $9.99 for new release bestsellers, there are growing indications that this resistance is far from absolute. Regardless of my own editorial views here, I will continue to report objectively on what is actually happening in the ebook price wars. I don’t have enough in the way of past datapoints to conclude too much here, but this does look to me like the beginning of a trend. 
Stay tuned.

Kindle Nation Daily Bargain Book Alert for Monday, March 1, 2010: 15 for a Buck and Under

The ThirtyNine
The Thirty-Nine Steps
Almayer’s Folly by Joseph Conrad

Kindle Nation Daily Free and Bargain Book Alert for Sunday, February 28, 2010: J.A. Konrath Has Your Back

Serial
by “Jack Kilborn” and Blake Crouch
Price: $0.00

Have you ever come to the point where you start looking at free Kindle offerings like those listed in our Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alerts with a bit of trepidation, based on fear that you’ll hooked on some author’s free novel only to end up spending serious money on Kindle editions of all the other books she has ever written?

If that’s your concern, Joe Konrath has your back.

Konrath is the very successful author of the bestselling Hyperion series of Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels Mysteries that began with Whiskey Sour in 2004 and has continued through Rusty Nail, Fuzzy Navel, Bloody Mary, Cherry Bomb, and Dirty Martini. But while some other authors act as if readers are the enemy by insulting them with remarks like those made by novelist Douglas Preston recently in the New York Times, Konrath has been extremely innovative both in figuring out how to connect with readers and in backing up his commitment to make those connections, as you can see from his blog posts here.

You may or may not already be aware that Konrath has been very consistent in offering free copies of his novel Serial to Kindle owners (and anyone else with a free Kindle App and a PC, BlackBerry, iPhone, or iPod Touch) for long enough to make it #23 on the Kindle Store bestseller list for all of 2009. (The book was co-written by Konrath, under his “Jack Kilborn” pen name, and Blake Crouch). He was also one of the first authors to participate in our popular Free Kindle Nation Shorts series with a vampire story, “The Screaming,” last May.

But if you download Serial and enjoy it, you are not doomed to spending 10 bucks a pop for Konrath’s other books. Here are nine other full-length Konrath titles that

1.
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The List by J.A. Konrath (Kindle Edition – Apr. 12, 2009)$1.99

2.
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Shot of Tequila by J.A. Konrath (Kindle Edition – Apr. 12, 2009) $1.99
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4.8 out of 5 stars (5)

3.
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Origin by J.A. Konrath (Kindle Edition – Apr. 8, 2009)$1.99
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4.5 out of 5 stars (36)

4.
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Disturb by J.A. Konrath (Kindle Edition – Apr. 11, 2009) -$1.99
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3.4 out of 5 stars (7)

5.
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Suckers by J.A. Konrath and Jeff Strand (Kindle Edition – Apr. 11, 2009)$1.99
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4.8 out of 5 stars (5)

6.
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55 Proof – Jack Daniels and Other Thriller Stories by J.A. Konrath (Apr. 9, 2009) $1.99
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4.2 out of 5 stars (5)

7.
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Planter’s Punch by J.A. Konrath and Tom Schreck (Kindle Edition – Apr. 8, 2009) $1.99
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5.0 out of 5 stars (1)

8.
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Truck Stop – A Psycho Thriller by Jack Kilborn & J.A. Konrath (Kindle Edition – July 4, 2009) – $1.99
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4.5 out of 5 stars (15)

9.
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Floaters by J.A. Konrath and Henry Perez (Kindle Edition – May 27, 2009) – $1.99
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And if that’s not enough, you can download these Amazon Shorts for 49 cents each and convert and transfer them easily to your Kindle Library:

46.7% of All Kindle Books Priced Under $5, 12.3% at $9.99, and Only 3.23% Between $10 and $14.99

Some pundits who pay only occasional attention to ebook pricing have been trying to make the case lately that Amazon could soon see its plus-90% ebook market share sink like a stone because of the high prices that Steve Jobs and the big traditional publishers are forcing on the Kindle Store.

Not so much, at least not yet.

With all the talk about the Apple 5, the so-called “Agency Model,” and rising ebook prices, it might be easy to miss the fact of the matter, which is that, as of this morning, 209,000 of the 447,000 titles in the Kindle Store are priced under five bucks. That’s 46.7% of the total, and here’s a breakdown by price points. To fine tune your search, click on any of these links and use Amazon’s search terms in the left sidebar column to select for category or genre, average customer review, or “new release” status.

What are the counts at higher price points? Interestingly, there’s a lot less going on the various “bestseller” price points than one might expect, including a grand but paltry total of 3.23% of all Kindle books currently priced between $10 and $14.99. But do not fear! Steve Jobs is coming!

What’s up with 20% of the titles priced at $15 and over? Not that much. None of those 87,771 titles are currently among the top 175 bestsellers in the Kindle Store, and some of those that are doing best are actually multi-volume sets. For single-volume books priced above $15 in  the Kindle Store, a comparison of their sales rankings in hardcover and ebook formats suggest that Kindle owners are staying away from them in droves.


Kindle Nation Daily Bargain Book Alert for Friday, February 5, 2010: 50 for Under a Buck

There are big changes afoot in the Kindle Store, and it is likely — at least until we hear definitive news to the contrary directly from Amazon — that in a few months a much smaller portion of the store’s offerings will be as affordable as they are today. Three of the Big Six publishers (MacMillan, HarperCollins, and Hachette) have joined together under the collusive anti-reader price-gouging auspices of the BS Cabal to announce that they will soon raise ebook prices by 30 to 50 percent, and Amazon itself said recently that beginning later this year it would pay 70 percent royalties to its indie ebook authors, but only if they priced books at $2.99 and up.

So I thought it would be a good time to celebrate this moment of great 99-cent Kindle Store offerings by helping the citizens of Kindle Nation find some of the hidden offerings priced at less than a dollar, with lists here of Intriguing Recent Releases, the 99-Cent Kindle Store Bestseller List, Great Blogs for 99 Cents a Month, Literate Erotica at 99 Cents a Pop, and Five Other 99-Cent Bargains by Yours Truly:

Ten Intriguing Recent Releases for Under a Buck
 

The 99-Cent Kindle Store Bestsellers’ List

  
 
Five Other 99-Cent Titles by Yours Truly
(When Amazon initiates its new $2.99+ pricing and 70%-royalty structure, I will have decisions to make on some of these. But for now, they are all priced under a dollar)